Question
Ralph
We recently lost our 6 year old Ragdoll. This was very sudden and unexpected. He was the sweetest cat. The family had gone out to run some errands one day last week and we were gone for several hours, approx. 5 hours. Upon our return my 16 year old son called out to me that Ralph was dead. I didn't believe him at first but the tone of voice told a different story. I dropped everything and ran to him where I found him just a foot from his water and food dish. He obviously had passed shortly after we left the house as rigor had set in and he had released his urine. I was absolutely devastated. He had not shown any symptoms of being ill what so ever. He had been healthy as far as we knew. His brother "Oscar" is about a year and a half older than Ralph. We also have a ginger tabby "Norman" who is about 9. Oscar is an actual blood brother of Ralph and he's a year older (7). I love all 3 of my cats, well two now. We have a rat terrier/Chihuahua and 2 parrots. The cats usually stayed downstairs where the kitchen/family room and the main part of the house is. The dog and birds are upstairs where the main entrance to the house is, besides the master bedroom and my 14 year old daughters room. The cats occasionally come up but, more often stay downstairs. I'm very curious what may have happened to Ralph. Now Oscar is like a little lost puppy. Ralph and Oscar were best buddies and pretty much inseparable. He's been looking all over the house for Ralph and we noticed almost immediately he started coming upstairs whenever we were upstairs and wanting our attention. Of course we all were more than happy to oblige. Norman didn't change too much, but then again he wasn't as close to Ralph. He's still eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom just fine. I would appreciate hearing back from you your feelings on what you think may have happened to Ralph. Thank you very much for your time. Debbie
AnswerSincere apologies for the delayed response. My deepest sympathies for your loss. Without being able to examine him it is hard to say for certain what happened, however two of the most common reasons for
sudden unexplained death would be an undetected heart problem and heartworm disease.
Heartworm is passed by mosquitos and may infect your cat without any signs for quite some time. The first sign can be when a group of the worms breaks off and travels in the bloodstream leading to pulmonary embolism, a very serious condition in their lungs.
There are many other possibilities including getting into a toxic substance or physical trauma, but as there seems little likelihood of one of these happening in your care I would tend to find the above more likely.
Again I am very sorry for your loss.
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